Download of the day: System Explorer

Our daily pick of the best Windows software

All kinds of processes and programs run in the background of your computer; find out exactly what they're up to and how they're impacting your hardware thanks to System Explorer.

Why you need it

Windows 8 vastly improved the default Windows Task Manager, but if you want an even more powerful tool – or don't own a copy of Windows 8 – then System Explorer is a superb free option.

Virtually every feature of System Explorer is designed to make managing your open processes as easy as possible, while simultaneously placing some powerful tools at your fingertips. The tabbed interface, for instance, is divided into Tasks, Processes, Performance, History, Networking and Autoruns, thereby making it simple to isolate the issues and information you need to find.

System Explorer can help in other ways; for example, glancing at a list of open processes isn't much help if you don't recognise the process name or know if it's safe. The program solves this by allowing you to check the process against its online database of potential threats, quickly letting you determine whether you need to kill any particular process.

There are even some useful diagnostic tools, such as a processor monitor and detailed networking information. These are displayed as graphs, letting you see whether your PC's internals were put under strain when you launched a certain program.

System Explorer provides much more than the default Windows Task Manager, providing you with a more complete picture of what's happening on your PC underneath the hood.

Key features

Works on: PC

Versions: Free

Take it further: Get a more detailed understanding of your system than the standard Task Manager provides

Detailed information: Understand exactly what each open process is doing using System Explorer's detailed overview

Easy to use: System Explorer's tabbed interface makes it easy to locate exactly what you're looking for